“We worked very closely with Disney to come up with an exceptional and distinctive way to help them open ‘Alice in Wonderland,’” John Conroy, a spokesman for the Times, told TheWrap that month. “It was designed to create buzz, and to extend the film’s already brilliant marketing campaign. “

In April 2009, the paper stirred controversy by running an ad on its front news page for NBC’s “Southland.” At the time, critics inside the paper and out accused the Times of selling its editorial integrity for an ad, because the ad appeared at a casual glance to be an article.

Dozens of editorial staffers protested, and it ultimately led to the exit of executive editor John Arthur. (Arthur was also critical of an ad for "The Soloist" that was published under the paper's banner.)

The Tribune Company, which owns the Times, is currently in bankruptcy, and the paper has been through several rounds of layoffs since Sam Zell bought it in 2007. And like nearly all newspapers, the Times has had to deal with steep advertising declines to match its circulation.

Two months after the "Southland" incident, HBO bought a front-page wraparound ad for its "True Blood" series. (That deal was struck by Farish, another of the executives promoted by the Times.)

In each case, the studios said the Times had initiated the ad packages.